Double Lives
by J.D. Cunegan
Summary: Bestselling mystery writer Richard Castle and NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs are as different as two men can possibly be. Yet they have one thing in common without even realizing it - until the body of a young Navy corporeal unravels the mystery and puts everyone's life in danger. Crossover AU.
1. Chapter 1: There's Always a Connection

_**Author's Note: Because apparently, I needed to add another ongoing fic to my list! Consider this one something that started as a roll-your-eyes-and-laugh post on Tumblr that eventually turned into a one-shot fic and is now... well, who knows how many chapters this thing will be? For reference purposes, this is round about Castle season 6. Please leave reviews!**_

* * *

 _Somewhere north of Washington…_

"Corporal Herman Bass," Timothy McGee announced, reading off the digital fingerprint indicator cradled in his right hand. "Originally from Fairfax, was back in the area on two-week leave after a six-month tour at sea."

NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood at the feet of their latest victim, a young Navy corporal who was built like he had been a linebacker on the football team. But his barrel chest and broad shoulders had been of no use against the slug embedded in his brain, brown eyes lifeless and staring at the cloudless sky.

From over Gibbs' left shoulder, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was taking pictures of the crime scene, which was tucked into a span of woods off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Corporal Bass' body was roughly ten feet from the highway, only noticed by a stranded motorist during a traffic jam several hours prior.

Metro PD had originally investigated the case, but as soon as detectives noticed his dark blue uniform and insignia, they immediately contacted NCIS.

Emerging from behind a large black van marked _NCIS CORONER_ in large white block letters, Dr. Donald Mallard and his assistant, Dr. Jimmy Palmer, wheeled a gurney toward the site of the body, which was already roped off. Pausing only to adjust the straw hat atop his head, Dr. Mallard gave Gibbs a once-over before lowering into a crouch to study the body.

"Well, cause of death seems rather obvious," he muttered in a soft British accent.

"Seems, Duck," Gibbs interjected, the sun reflecting off his white hair. "Doesn't mean it is."

"No, of course not," Dr. Mallard, who the NCIS team affectionately knew as Ducky, mused. "Why, this reminds me of a time when I was but a teenage boy back home in Scotland. I had come home to find Mother out of the house and a stew brewing on the stove. I thought she had forgotten an ingredient and had made a quick run to the store, when in all actuality -"

"Boss," DiNozzo interrupted from a cluster of trees, where he and a female agent named Ziva David were hunched over something. Their bodies blocked his view, but Gibbs strode away from Ducky mid-story, sipping on a plastic cup as he joined the pair.

"What is it?"

"His wallet," Ziva announced, holding up a black billfold. Her dark hair was done up in a bun that stuck out of the back of her black NCIS ballcap. "Apparently, he was all about the Washingtons."

DiNozzo smirked. "It's all about the Benjamins, Ziva."

Ziva's eyebrows arched. "Not on a corporal's salary."

Taking the wallet from Ziva, and trying to ignore the banter between her and DiNozzo, Gibbs opened it and flipped through the contents. Everything appeared to be in order - both cash and credit cards were still there, as was military ID, driver's license, and Social Security card. All three verified the deceased man's identity.

Gibbs found a folded-up slip of paper tucked behind the bills, pulling it out and unfolding it. He squinted and took another swig of coffee. In hasty, messy handwriting, the note held a phone number and what appeared to be initials.

MLH.

"McGee," he called out, handing the junior agent the slip. "Run that phone number. I wanna know who Corporal Bass might have been calling before he died."

* * *

 _New York City…_

"You still haven't answered my question." Kate Beckett's face wore a scowl, but the tone in her voice belied the serious demeanor she was trying to show off. Such tactics were her strength in the box at the precinct, but in her fiancé's high-rise loft, she was not nearly as masterful an interrogator.

It didn't help when Richard Castle flashed the baby blues at her.

"I told you, Beckett," he paused to sip at his mug of coffee, "that lunch with Gina was strictly business."

"Not that." Kate rolled her eyes even as she was suppressing a smirk. "My other question."

"Oh." Castle's shoulders slumped and his face fell. He knew exactly what question Kate meant, and it was a topic he had been desperate to put off. As much as he loved being engaged to the woman who inspired him to write again after killing off Derrick Storm, he occasionally found the actual process of planning their wedding intimidating.

Especially when Kate asked questions he didn't want to answer.

"Well? Are we inviting Meredith or not?"

Castle visibly cringed at the mention of his first ex-wife's name. Not because he hated her, but because he remembered how badly he had messed up the last time she paid a visit, how he had both Meredith and new girlfriend Kate staying in his loft at the same time. Awkward had been a massive understatement, and for that reason alone, he was tempted to leave her out of the festivities.

But Meredith was still Alexis' mother, which meant she was still family (in a sense). And strange as it was, Meredith and Kate had bonded during their joint stay the previous year. That thought made Castle feel all sorts of uncomfortable, but Kate was still his, so it couldn't have been _that_ bad… could it?

"Do… you want her there?" Castle asked into his mug, arching a brow.

Pursing her lips, Kate matched his eyebrow. "Do you?"

 _Crap._ Castle hated it whenever his fiancée answered a question with a question. Well, he liked it when she did it in the box, when he was sitting on the same side of the table as her and they were trying to get someone to break. But when she did it to _him_?

No fair.

"I say we let Alexis decide," he offered.

"Alexis?" Kate shook her head.

"That's even assuming she'd show up," Castle offered hastily, hoping the change in subject would stick. "Knowing her, we'd send the invite, she'd RSVP and then… never show."

"You really think she'd flake like that?"

After over a decade of occasionally having to console a disappointed daughter whenever Meredith fell through on a plan or a promise she had made… yes, Castle had considered the possibility. But he didn't voice that thought, instead taking another sip of his coffee and glancing at Kate with serious eyes that belied just how much he wasn't kidding.

"Okay," Kate said with a nod, her hand cradling Castle's. "We'll leave Meredith as a _maybe_ for now. I think our invite list needs to be trimmed a bit anyway."

* * *

 _Quantico…_

"Boss!"

No sooner had Agent Gibbs left Director Vance's office after giving him an update on the case, Agent DiNozzo's voice was already calling out for him. Gibbs stopped and tried not to roll his eyes, another cup of coffee in his right hand and a large plastic cup with _Caff-Pow!_ on the side in his left.

"McGee tracked down that number," DiNozzo explained as the foot of the metal stairwell that led to their cluster of desks. It was a relatively open space in the center of a spacious bullpen, one that featured orange walls and cubicles scattered throughout. The orange was disconcerting to most, but Gibbs had grown used to it over the years.

Gibbs took the piece of paper from DiNozzo's hand, reading it over while the younger agent continued talking: "Corporal Bass had been in contact with a woman named Meredith Lee Harper. Forty-two years old, once married, once divorced, has a daughter."

The two men began walking through the narrow corridor that led to the various interrogation rooms. Gibbs was still reading, DiNozzo was still talking.

"She moved from Los Angeles to New York last month, apparently to pursue a career on Broadway."

Gibbs stopped in front of the main interrogation room. "Actress?"

"Allegedly." DiNozzo gave an exaggerated cringe. "Her IMDB page reads like a cast list from _Sharknado 4_. I think her relocation has more to do with her personal life than anything professional."

Gibbs frowned. "New York?"

"That's where her daughter and her ex-husband live."

"What would she be doing down here?" Gibbs asked before taking another drink.

"You can ask her yourself." DiNozzo nodded toward the door behind Gibbs. "Ziva and I just brought her in. Picked her up at Reagan International."

* * *

 _Interrogation…_

"Miss Harper," Ziva David leaned forward in her seat across from the redhead, her elbows resting on the surface of the table, "what was your relationship with Corporal Bass?"

Meredith blinked and cocked her head to the side. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Corporal Herman Bass," Ziva explained, slightly exasperated. "He was found dead near D.C. this morning with a bullet in his forehead. We found your telephone number in his wallet."

When Meredith shook her head again, mouth open but no words forming, Ziva flipped open the file folder in front of her and produced an autopsy photo: that of Corporal Bass on Ducky's slab, staring straight up with a hole in the center of his forehead and a trail of dried blood running down the right side of his nose.

Meredith gasped at the sight, cupping a thin hand over her mouth and turning away. She huffed a breath, part disgust and part emotion, before the sound of the agent clearing her throat brought her back into the moment. Meredith's stomach churned as she glanced at the photograph again, but she leaned forward and forced herself to get a better look…

…only to gasp again once recognition hit her.

"This guy isn't Navy," she protested. "And… his name's not Herman Bass."

"I… do not understand." Ziva frowned. "We have his DNA. He is in the Navy's database."

"He told me his name was Jason," Meredith explained with a sigh. "Jason Nabbitt."

"And what was your relationship with him?"

"He was…" Meredith hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip. "He was my supplier."

The sound of the door opening caught Ziva's attention as she opened her mouth to ask Meredith what she meant by that… but the sound of two plastic cups hitting the floor and liquid spilling onto the carpet stopped the agent short. Ziva looked up to see Agent Gibbs standing in the doorway, white as a sheet and his eyes as wide as she had ever seen.

"Agent Gibbs?" Ziva asked, her hand reaching for the weapon on her hip out of instinct.

Ziva's eyes flicked back to the woman sitting across from her. Meredith was already naturally pale, and she had gone even whiter when she saw Corporal Bass' autopsy photo. Now, her skin tone matched Gibbs', and her eyes were just as wide. Impossibly blue, even under the harsh light of interrogation.

Both Meredith and Gibbs were stunned into silence. Ziva rose from her chair and slowly made her way to her fellow agent, cocking her head to the side before turning to study Meredith again.

"Gibbs." Her voice was more forceful this time. "What is going on?"

The next person to speak was Meredith.

"Leroy…"

This time, Ziva was the one with the wide eyes, the open mouth, and the speechless disposition. She glanced at Gibbs again, seeing something in his eyes she had never seen before: abject confusion. She gently reached out and grabbed Gibbs' shoulder, ducking her head before leveling another gaze at the redhead.

Meredith had tears in her eyes.

Ziva's frown deepened. "You two know each other."

"Of course we do," Meredith said in a shaky voice, rising from her seat and closing the distance between herself and Agent Gibbs. She reached up to cradle Gibbs' face in her hand, but he flinched and she dropped her arm. Her eyes fell before focusing on Ziva again.

"This man is my husband."


	2. Chapter 2: Mistaken Identity

_**Author's Note: That awkward moment where you're trying to fit so much stuff into one chapter and you end up having to save some of it for later. Ah well... some of you will probably see what's coming here from a mile away, but still... this is fun. Reviews are lovely!**_

* * *

 _NCIS Headquarters, Quantico…_

"Look, I know what that file says," Agent DiNozzo argued, pacing back and forth in the observation room adjacent to Interrogation. The woman named Meredith Harper was sitting at the table, hands clasped together and her head ducked, while Agent Gibbs stood in the far corner. His hands were balled into fists and he was doing everything he could to avoid looking at her.

"That woman has had _one_ husband in her life, and his name is not Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Shrugging her shoulders, arms folded over her chest, Ziva David leveled a serious gaze at her exasperating yet reliable partner. "She claims otherwise."

DiNozzo stopped and rested his hand on the base of the two-way mirror. "And we believe her?"

Ziva shook her head. "Gibbs clearly does."

"It's like a bad Hitchcock movie," DiNozzo muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing when he studied his boss. He knew the basics about what had happened to Gibbs' first wife - not as much as some others did, but enough to know it wasn't the sort of thing to bring up in conversation most of the time.

This wasn't like the case with a few of Gibbs' other ex-wives - particularly the one who went on to marry that uptight FBI agent. That was funny, enough teasing fodder to last Tony for weeks… if he ever got up the courage to actually tease Gibbs.

But this?

"What do you think's going through his mind right now?" DiNozzo asked.

"All I know," Ziva offered, "is that I am glad we are on this side of the glass right now."

As if on-cue, Gibbs turned around and walked out of Interrogation, stepping on his now-empty coffee cup in the process. Second later, the door to Observation burst open and Gibbs walked through, approaching DiNozzo and Ziva before standing between them and staring through the two-way.

"Boss." DiNozzo cast a sideways glance. "What's our next move?"

The white-haired Marine was silent for a few moments - during which DiNozzo and Ziva shared a meaningful, knowing glance. Tony was just about to open his mouth to repeat the question when Gibbs turned to him with as solemn a look in his eyes as DiNozzo had seen.

"The ex-husband in her file," he said. "The one in New York… who is he?"

"His name's Richard Castle." DiNozzo cleared his throat. "He's a mystery writer, boss. McGeek loves him."

"Call him." Gibbs turned to walk out of the room. "Get him down here."

Ziva frowned. "What are you going to do?"

Yanking the door open, Gibbs turned to glance through the two-way again, his jaw set. "I'm gonna figure out why the hell that woman says she's my wife."

* * *

 _New York City…_

"Castle," Kate Beckett sighed in exasperation, a pen clutched in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, "we are not inviting Stephen King, James Patterson, and Michael Connelly to the wedding!"

"Well, I have to invite them," Castle argued, "because if they find out Wes Craven got an invite and they didn't… Beckett, do you realize how pressure-packed the multi-millionaire writer community is?"

Kate arched a brow, pursing her lips. "And do you realize I could relegate you to the couch?"

With an exaggerated frown, Castle grabbed for his phone once it started ringing. "Low blow, Beckett." Swiping his thumb over the screen, Castle brought the phone to his ear. "Castle."

His eyes meeting Kate's, Castle's frown deepened and became much more genuine. Taking the phone from his ear, the writer put the device on speaker and set it down on the cabinet of the island in his kitchen.

"Yes, this is Richard Castle."

" _Mr. Castle, my name is Anthony DiNozzo, I'm with NCIS_."

"NCIS?"

" _Naval Criminal Inv -_ "

"I-I'm sorry." Castle straightened his posture, grabbing the edges of the counter. "I mean, I know what NCIS is, I just… I'm a little confused as to why you're calling me."

" _You're familiar with a woman named Meredith Harper, correct?_ "

Kate and Castle locked eyes again, and he felt a cold chill of dread run up and down his spine. Setting his jaw, and trying not to outwardly express that dread, Castle nodded. "Yeah… yeah, she's my ex-wife."

" _Well, we have her in custody right now in connection to the murder of a Navy corporal. But… Mr. Castle, there's no easy way to say this. We're a little confused about some of the stuff she's telling us, and we were hoping you'd be able to shed some light._ "

"Me?" Castle asked as Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry, Agent DiNozzo, but Meredith and I haven't spoken in about a year."

" _Ms. Harper says she won't talk any further until you show up._ "

"Agent DiNozzo," Kate leaned over the counter, "this is Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD. Is my fiancé a suspect in your investigation?"

" _No, ma'am,_ " DiNozzo answered on the other end, and Kate cringed at _ma'am_. " _But we have reason to believe he might be the only one to make any sense out of what Ms. Harper's telling us_."

"What's she saying?" Castle asked.

" _It's… really best if you were in-person for that conversation, Mr. Castle._ "

* * *

 _The next day…_

As the elevator took Richard Castle and Kate Beckett to the main bullpen at NCIS, her fingers slipped in between his. The tension in his shoulders had been since before they took off from New York, and though Castle had slept on the short flight, it was a fitful rest. He was clearly on-edge about this, in a way Kate hadn't seen in a long while.

Federal agents investigating a murder that somehow, some way, connected back to Castle's first ex-wife. Kate had to admit the detective in her was curious to see how this would all unfold, but seeing how worried her fiancé was over this tempered that excitement a little.

The fact that Castle didn't seem the least bit curious told Kate all she needed to know.

"You okay?" she asked as the doors opened and they were greeted with a bustling bullpen and… orange walls. This definitely was not the Twelfth.

"Aside from the fact that I think we just stumbled upon the Oompa Loompas' secret lair?" Castle whispered with his trademark smirk.

Rolling her eyes, despite the grin on her face, Kate shook her head as they wandered the main floor, approaching a cluster of desks surrounded by two high-definition flatscreen monitors. No dry-erase boards here. In a way, it reminded Kate of the operations hub she worked in while on the Attorney General's task force, just… with a lot more color.

"Excuse me," Castle said once they were standing in front of the first desk they found. "We're here to see Agent DiNozzo."

A younger male agent rose from his desk on the other side of the bullpen, approaching Castle and Kate with a furrowed brow. "He's not here right now. But maybe I can help you, I'm Special Agent Timothy McGee."

Castle reached out to shake Agent McGee's hand with a polite smile. "I'm Richard Castle and this is my fiancée, Kate Beckett."

McGee's eyes widened briefly as he also shook hands with Kate. "Richard Castle," he repeated with a sideways grin. "Derrick Storm? Nikki Heat?"

With a sheepish smile, Castle shrugged. "Yeah, well, I don't like to brag… much."

"Don't listen to him," Kate teased. "He brags all the time."

"Well, with a life like his, I can see why." McGee nodded to the side. "Follow me, Agent Gibbs is expecting you."

The couple followed McGee as he led them down a long, narrow hallway, the lights dimming dramatically once they were out of the main bullpen area. Kate kept her hold on Castle's hand, tightening it when his steps quickened.

"Agent McGee," she asked, "what's going on here?"

"Honestly," McGee stopped in front of the door to a conference room, shaking his head. "I don't know. Ms. Harper said our dead Navy corporal was actually a supplier for her. A supplier of what, we don't know, but I've been tracking Corporal Bass' incoming and outgoing calls for the last three weeks. He and Ms. Harper have been in touch over a dozen times in that span."

Castle frowned. "When was the last time they spoke?"

"According to her, they spoke briefly yesterday morning. They were supposed to meet, but he never showed."

Kate nodded. "Because he was already dead."

"That fits Ducky's time-of-death estimate." McGee nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Agent Gibbs will have more answers for you. Agents DiNozzo and David are in the field tracking down a lead… and maybe when this is all over, you could autograph my copy of _Frozen Heat_."

Castle actually broke into a smile. "I'd be glad to."

McGee's smile broadened. "Both of you."

The couple exchanged a look, and Castle's brow arched as a knowing smile crept onto his face. McGee had been trying to play it cool, but he was obviously a fan. Castle signing a book was nothing out of the ordinary, but Kate doing the same? That was rare, and she wasn't sure what to make of the request before his hand on her shoulder brought her back into the moment.

"Come on," he said quietly. "Let's figure out what this is all about."

But as soon as the pair walked into the conference room - which was also orange - and Castle laid eyes on Meredith, his heart skipped a beat. His feet were firmly planted on the carpeting, and Kate almost ran into him when she crossed into the room. She grabbed Castle's arm to keep from face-planting into the space between his shoulder blades.

"Castle -"

Meredith looked up, her eyes red and puffy. The smile on her face was anything but happy. "Hello, Richard."

"Meredith," Castle croaked out before clearing his throat.

The white-haired man who had been sitting across from Meredith rose. His eyes were a little red too, but not as bad as hers. His jaw set and the hair almost matched the white tee he was wearing underneath an olive sweater - which itself was underneath a brown blazer. He held out his right hand, and though there was a hardness to him, the man was also welcoming in his own strange way.

"Richard Castle," he greeted, and the two men shook hands. "Special Agent Gibbs."

"Nice to meet you," Castle said. "This is my fiancée, Kate Beckett."

Gibbs nodded in Kate's direction, even as his eyes narrowed. The name sounded vaguely familiar, and for a few moments he wondered where he had heard it before. But the memory came to him: several months ago, a new agent had joined the Attorney General's task force, a homicide cop from New York.

It barely lasted three months before the task force let her go. Gibbs didn't know all the details, but based on what he _did_ know? He liked and respected her.

"We hated to call you in all the way from New York," he explained as he re-took his seat, "but I'm afraid this is… well, I'm not sure what this is."

"That makes three of us," Castle said as he took his own seat, to Gibbs' immediate left, keeping his eyes trained on Meredith the whole time. Her shoulders were hunched and she was avoiding his gaze.

She had never looked like that. Not even the day he caught her in bed with another man.

"Agent Gibbs," Kate began, taking charge like she would if this were her own investigation, "DiNozzo and McGee have given us bits and pieces, and I'm sure my fiancé will be glad to help any way he can, but I don't see how we can be of any help. Neither of us ever met Corporal Bass."

"This isn't about Corporal Bass," Gibbs answered, focusing on his plastic coffee cup - because it meant not having to look at the redhead sitting across from him. "This is about Ms. Harper." He looked up. "If that's really your name."

"What?" Castle leaned forward and his brow scrunched in confusion. "Meredith, what is he -"

"My name's not really Meredith," the redhead explained in a voice just above a whisper. Her voice caught at the end of the sentence, and she sucked in as deep a breath as she could before forcing herself to look Castle in the eye. "God, I was hoping this would never come out, that we would never have to have this conversation…"

Castle sank into his seat, jaw clenched. Kate's hand slipped under his on the surface of the table, their fingers immediately interlocking. It was second nature for them these days; for as long as it took them to finally get to this point, once they did, they clicked just as easily as Castle always knew they would.

He was glad she was there right now, because it felt like the room was starting to spin. Whatever Meredith had been hiding - whatever secret had been so horrific that NCIS asked him to fly from New York to Virginia - it was obviously huge.

"Meredith," he whispered with a cringe. "What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry, Richard," she got out even as another sob overcame her, covering her mouth with a shaky hand. Her cheeks were almost as red as the hair atop her head, and it took her several moments to gather herself to the point where she could speak again. "I'm so… _so_ sorry…"

Gibbs shook his head and stared at the table. "Tell him."

The redhead finally exhaled, her body slumping into her chair as the breath she had been holding released. She forced herself to meet Castle's confused stare, even though her eyes were far darker than he could ever remember seeing.

"Richard… my real name is Shannon." Her eyes flickered to the NCIS agent. "Shannon Gibbs."


	3. Chapter 3: Speechless

_**Author's Note: Again... for some of you, this was obvious from a mile away. But for some of you, based on some of the reviews I've gotten, not so much. Basically, fics like this are what happens when an actor shows up on both shows (in this case, in remarkably similar roles). Enjoy!**_

 _ **A #CastleFanficMonday submission. Last Monday of hiatus!**_

* * *

Richard Castle was seldom left speechless.

He almost always had something to say. A quip here. A crazy theory there. The occasional pep talk for his daughter or mother or, now, his fiancée. He could spin a yarn with the best of them and he was as smooth a small talker as one would ever find when it came to the high-society parties he occasionally had to attend.

Often, when Castle did find himself unable to form words, it was because of Kate Beckett. Her stunning beauty, her remarkable strength, the way she was simultaneously the most badass and most compassionate woman he ever met. When the wordsmith _did_ find himself scrambling for words and coming up empty, she was almost always the cause.

Except for right now.

The words were still rattling around in his head, and he kept playing them over and over again - because maybe the more he stewed over them, the more sense they would make. _My real name is Shannon. Shannon Gibbs._

They were as confusing as they had been when Castle first heard them. He vividly remembered the woman sitting across from him, the one who had been the first to take his name - in a metaphoric sense, anyway. Meredith Harper had once argued that keeping her maiden name was about her career - a career that never quite took off.

This was the mother of his child. This was, for better or worse, a woman with whom Castle would always be linked. Yet here she sat telling him that her name wasn't really her name - and in point of fact, she shared a surname with the white-haired NCIS agent sitting to Castle's left. If Agent Gibbs' clenched jaw was any indication, the news was as much a shock to him as anyone else.

Castle felt Kate's hand on his shoulder, squeezing ever so slightly. But Castle couldn't tear his gaze from Meredith - or Shannon - or whatever her name actually was. His blue eyes darkened in a mixture of confusion, dread, and anger. He wanted answers, but at the same time, Castle was afraid of what those answers might be.

His inner mystery writer had crafted several different scenarios, none of them good.

"I- I'm sorry," Kate was the one to break the silence. "I don't…"

"How do you know this woman?" Agent Gibbs asked before Kate had a chance to say anything more.

Blinking as if he was being brought back into the moment - because to a degree, he was - Castle sank back in his chair and cast a side glance toward his fiancée. The hand on his shoulder lowered until their fingers interlocked, and not for the first time, Castle was glad Kate had come with him. This was shaping up to be something complicated and emotionally draining, and the writer was glad to have Kate there to anchor him.

"She's my ex-wife." Castle spoke slowly, as if he were being careful with his words. "We were married for a couple years, had a daughter together." Castle watched as Agent Gibbs pulled a small notepad out of his pocket - a lot like those little pads Detective Ryan would use - jotting down specifics.

"How long ago were you married?"

Castle cast a curious glance at the redhead. "It's probably been almost twenty years. Alexis was barely a toddler when we divorced." Castle watched Shannon's eyes lower to focus on the conference table.

The click of a pen brought Castle's attention back to Agent Gibbs. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"About a year ago. She visited to spend some time with Alexis before jetting off to Paris."

Gibbs looked up with a quirked brow. "And Alexis is…"

"Our daughter," Castle answered, his eyes momentarily brightening at the mention.

"Agent Gibbs," Kate sat up a little straighter, releasing her grip on Castle's hand. "I thought this was a murder investigation."

"It is," Gibbs shot back. "We have the body down in Autopsy if you want to see it."

Kate rose from her seat, slipping her hand out of Castle's and approaching Agents Gibbs' seat before her fiancée could grab for her again. "So why not focus on that instead of railroading Castle like this?"

"I have other agents working that angle," Gibbs countered, standing. "And considering Shannon Gibbs is supposed to be dead, excuse me for wanting some clarity on the situation."

Castle blinked and sat up a little straighter. "Dead?"

Three pairs of eyes all descended upon the redhead in question, and her shoulders hunched under the weight of their scrutiny. Castle and Agent Gibbs, in particular, were glaring at Shannon with particularly angry stares, their confusion laced with irritation and the emotional weight of things they have known for years to be less than true.

Kate's look of confusion was less biting than that of the two men, but Shannon probably feared her more, both because of her reputation as a cop and the steadfastness with which she knew Kate would defend her fiancé, if necessary.

"Meredith." Castle, of course, was the first to speak. "What the hell's going on?"

The redhead's shoulders only fell when she expelled the breath she had been holding, her gaze averting from the three people seated across from her and to the surface of the table. Her hands came to rest on the table, fingers fiddling amongst themselves; Shannon was clearly trying to stall.

Knowing her the way he thought he did, Castle swallowed back the dread. The Meredith he knew had never been the one to hold back, in thought, word, or deed. The fact that she was so tentative now… he hated to think what was coming next.

"I'm Agent Gibbs' first wife."

"The wife I thought was dead for the last…" Agent Gibbs shook his head and rubbed his hands together. How long had it been? Shannon had been the first of four marriages for Gibbs, all of which had failed for a variety of reasons. If he was being honest with himself, the last three had probably failed, in part, because he was still in mourning over the loss of Shannon and their daughter, Kelly.

For the first time since this confusion ordeal began, Gibbs wondered where Kelly was - and if this Alexis the mystery writer kept speaking of was actually Kelly with a different identity.

"Agent Gibbs," Castle's voice was low, almost a whisper, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I had no idea…"

"You weren't supposed to," Shannon spoke up. "Meredith Harper was my new identity, my new life."

Kate rested her hand in the crook of Castle's elbow, scooting herself closer to her fiancée as she shot a confused glance Agent Gibbs' way. He was staring straight ahead, shaking his head almost imperceptibly. Castle's body was tense; she could feel the strain of his muscle under her touch.

"I'm sorry," she spoke so neither man would have to. "I don't understand."

"Shannon was killed, along with my daughter, back when I was deployed during the first Iraq War," Agent Gibbs explained. "NIS had placed them into protective custody after Shannon had accidentally witnessed a crime involving Mexican drug lord Pedro Hernandez. But he shot the man driving the car while they were in it, and they died in the resulting car crash."

"Only Kelly and I weren't in the car," Shannon said, tears brimming in her eyes. "That morning, our NIS liaison received intel that Hernandez was onto us. They took us into hiding, and I guess they put two people in the car in our place."

Kate visibly blanched. "They let two people die in your place?"

"They were probably already dead," Castle theorized, though his voice was so low, so detached, that it almost didn't really sound like him.

"They told me the people in the car in our place were already dead," Shannon explained. "I wasn't big on asking questions at that point. I just wanted to grab Kelly and get us to safety. I fully expected Jethro to be there waiting for us."

Agent Gibbs shook his head. "Where's Kelly now? Is my daughter still alive?"

"I don't know." Shannon sniffled and the tears started slipping down her cheeks. "After the accident, they split us up, put us in Witness Protection. I haven't seen her since." Shannon cupped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, the conference room thick with the emotion streaming down her face.

Castle's jaw clenched, and Kate saw his hands balling into fists. The redhead and children had always been a sore spot with him, even if he had never actually admitted as such. But the way Meredith had constantly flitted in and out of Alexis' life hadn't slipped Kate's notice - which meant she knew that was probably front and center on her lover's mind.

"I had been living as Meredith for about a year when we met," Shannon explained between gulps of air, finally bringing herself to look at Castle. "I wasn't sure if I'd ever fall in love again, but… there you were…"

"Until you slept with your director." The words were out of Castle's mouth before he had a chance to stop them, not that he particularly cared at the moment. The woman with whom he had fathered his only child had just told him that she wasn't who he thought she was, so as far as he was concerned, tact was out of the question.

And… now that Castle thought about it, the man with whom he had caught Meredith - all while Alexis was asleep in her bedroom, no less - bore more than a passing resemblance to Agent Gibbs. The director had short-cropped white hair, and that added a complicated layer to something that didn't necessarily need one.

Kate squeezed his arm. "Castle."

Castle pushed himself out of his seat, his jaw still tight and his hands still balled into fists. He tore his angry gaze from Shannon and softened only a fraction when he turned to Agent Gibbs, shaking his head. "You let me know if you need to speak with me one-on-one. I can't do this right now."

He turned and walked out of the conference room before Kate could stop him, and before either Shannon or Agent Gibbs could reply. The door slammed shut behind the writer, and Shannon flinched.

Kate opened her mouth to say something, but shut it without words - because honestly, anything she had to say right now would make the situation worse. Agent Gibbs' body language told Kate this was as much a shock to him as it was to Castle; to find out the woman you had a child with was someone else entirely was one thing. To find out they weren't actually dead was another.

For a moment, Kate wondered how she would react if one day her mother showed up with the same story Shannon had. _Oh, I didn't really die. That was just a cover while I went into protective hiding._

As tragic as losing Johanna was, Kate didn't fancy living through that little plot twist.

Shannon was crying into her hands now, and Kate glanced at Agent Gibbs to see his eyes brimmed red with emotion as well. In a lot of ways, he struck Kate as someone who held things close to the chest, didn't give away much as to what he was thinking or how he was feeling - _yeah, that sounds familiar_.

Kate nodded once and pursed her lips, leaving the conference room in search of her fiancée.

Shannon jumped when the door slammed again, sniffling and wiping her nose with the back of her hand. She glanced at the Marine seated across from her, the fluttering in her chest no less intense than it had been the day she married him, and a grimace of a smile crept onto her face, even as the tears kept falling.

"Jethro…"

"Don't." Agent Gibbs put a hand in front of himself and shook his head. "Just… don't."

"But…"

"Just tell me this… who took you?"

"Hunt." Shannon sniffled. "He said his name was Jackson Hunt."


	4. Chapter 4: Talk it Out

_**Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the support on this fic so far! I'm having a lot of fun with this, mostly because this is the first fic where I really get to dig into Castle a bit. So many of my other fics focus on Kate; she'll have her own part here as well, but this one's a lot meatier on the Castle side of things. Enjoy!**_

* * *

 _Somewhere Near D.C…_

"This doesn't make any sense," Special Agent Tony DiNozzo muttered with a shake of his head as he placed a stack of papers back onto the wooden desk. For the most part, Herman Bass' apartment was nondescript, small with walls barely decorated with posters of bikini-clad models. "I don't even know what to look for."

"Meredith said he was her supplier," Ziva David offered, crouching beside the bed and shining a flashlight underneath the mattress. She grimaced when she didn't find anything. "Perhaps we would luck out and find his supply here."

"No such luck," DiNozzo said, taking a peek out the window and looking four stories down.

"This is like… finding a knife in a haystack."

"Needle," DiNozzo corrected. "It's _needle_ in a haystack."

"Point is," Ziva countered, "we have yet to find anything to substantiate that woman's claim."

"Well, it's not a total loss." DiNozzo turned away from the window, crossing the small space between the bed and the bathroom, flipping on the light and dropping into a crouch to open the cabinets underneath the sink. The wood was faded and splintered. "It gets us away from all the tension."

"Gibbs has not been quite himself since we brought Meredith in."

DiNozzo squinted, his own flashlight illuminating the corners of the cabinet. "Well, you know Gibbs and redheads. A veritable Molotov cocktail if ever there was one. I'm kinda curious to see what the mystery writer has to do with all this."

"Have you seen his fiancée?" Ziva crouched beside DiNozzo, running the palm of her latex-covered hand along the side panel of the cabinet. "She is very pretty. Almost makes up for that awful name."

DiNozzo frowned. "What's wrong with Kate Beckett?"

Ziva frowned in return. "I thought her name was Nikki Heat."

DiNozzo smirked, pressing his palm against the other side of the wood paneling, feeling an inconsistency in the wood. Shining a flashlight on the offending spot, he noticed what appeared to be a secret compartment etched into the wood. "No, that's the character he's based on her. You can ask McGee all about it when we get back. But look at this."

Ziva inched herself closer to DiNozzo, her chin inches from resting on his shoulder as her dark eyes trained over the spot he was illuminating with his flashlight. She had to block out the scent of DiNozzo's aftershave, going so far as to hold her breath because sometimes the smell was intoxicating enough to distract her.

She fought the urge to bite her lip, especially when she noticed DiNozzo looking over his shoulder at her. She expected a smirk and a quip, but his eyes were as serious as she had seen that day.

"Secret compartment," she said to his nod.

"What do you wanna bet whatever Bass was supplying Meredith with is in here?" DiNozzo theorized as his palm pressed flat against the wood. He added pressure with his fingertips before a soft _click_ accompanied the sensation of the wood giving way. By the time DiNozzo removed his hand, the wood panel flipped open to reveal several prescription bottles.

DiNozzo reached for one and squinted at the information printed on the label. "Modafinil."

Ziva frowned. "Sleeping pills?"

"The exact opposite," DiNozzo said, pulling an evidence bag out of the pouch of his navy blue NCIS windbreaker and placing the bottles into it. "They're for alertness, usually given to patients with narcolepsy. The drug itself isn't illegal, but I would imagine Uncle Sam would frown upon Bass selling them himself."

"And that is assuming the pills themselves were not modified in any way."

"That," DiNozzo said, rising back to his feet and trying to ignore the pop in his knee, "would be a job for Ms. Scuito."

* * *

 _NCIS Headquarters, Quantico…_

By the time Kate Beckett finally found her fiancée, she saw him sitting in the break room - which wasn't quite as orange as the rest of the facility - hunched over one of the tables along the far wall and staring at the can of Coke in front of him. His posture alone was enough to tug at Kate's heart strings, and she found herself closing the distance before she even decided to.

He flinched ever so briefly when her hand came to rest on the space between his shoulders, but Castle relaxed when he saw who was touching him. He tried to match the small smile Kate gave him as she sat next to him, but it looked more like a grimace. His eyes were dark, and Castle had to close his eyes when Kate's fingers slipped in between his.

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't know what to say. Asking how he was seemed stupid, and she felt lame offering little more than an _I'm sorry_.

She was hoping he would talk for her, like he so often did.

"Alexis was still a baby," Castle said, his voice low and cracking. "The day I walked in on Meredith with another man."

Kate blinked, taken aback by how frank the confession was. Meredith hadn't said a word about that the last time they had spoken, when Kate had asked her why things with Castle never worked out. Meredith had been a sporadic and short-lived part of their lives, only showing up in short bursts, disturbing things in her own unique way before flying off to wherever.

And in the aftermath, Castle had never said much about her. Occasionally, Kate would get the sense that he resented how little Meredith had been there for Alexis, but over the years, Kate had chalked up the demise of that relationship to how young and impulsive they both had been.

Castle had somewhat outgrown his impulsiveness - or at least, he had learned to hone it. Meredith, it appeared to Kate from the outside, never had.

Kate gave Castle's hand a squeeze. "How come you never told me she cheated on you?"

Castle shrugged and kept his gaze on the soda can. "Never really came up."

"I asked her once," Kate admitted. "Why the two of you didn't work out."

Castle's eyes finally rose to meet Kate's, lines of confusion forming on his forehead. His eyes were still far darker than usual, though they had lightened a little. "And I'm guessing that part never came up."

Kate shook her head. "She said it was because you knew everything about her, but that every time she tried to dig a little deeper into you, you kept her at arm's length."

Already angry, Castle felt a wave of it washing over him again - only to feel it fade when Kate's hand squeezed his. They locked eyes again and Castle sighed, his shoulders slumping. He pushed the can of Coke aside and leaned in closer to his fiancée.

"Look, I know I'm flippant and borderline crass sometimes," he said. "Humor has always been my coping mechanism, and sometimes I have a hard time turning that off. But if there's one thing following you around these last few years has taught me… nothing ever happens in a vacuum, Kate. A murder… it doesn't just ruin the victim's life, or the family or friends. It…" He shrugged and pursed his lips. "It's not just the fact that someone's dead, either. Secrets come out. People already grieving with loss are faced with the terrifying notion that the people they loved might not have been who they thought."

The anger was seeping back into Castle's voice as he spoke. Kate ran a soothing palm over the back of his hand, struck by how infrequently she had seen this side of him over the years. Then again, even the most personal of cases had never gotten to him quite like this one. Neither one of them had ever met Herman Bass, but his death had sent so many things spiraling out of control - not the least of which were her fiancé's emotions.

To say nothing of the lead agent working the case.

"As angry as I am right now," Castle admitted, "as _hurt_ as I feel over the fact that Meredith isn't really Meredith… I can't help but feel even worse for Agent Gibbs."

 _Oh, Castle…_

Even in the midst of his own turmoil, Castle was still thinking about someone else. Someone he had never met before until a few hours ago. His capacity of empathy had always been impressive - even when Kate was convinced he was little more than a playboy debutante stalking her under the guise of "research." But for him to be thinking of someone else right now… Kate couldn't help the small smile tickling her lips.

"To go that long thinking your wife and daughter are dead…" Castle shook his head. "I can only imagine the lengths Agent Gibbs would've gone to make sure whoever killed them paid."

Kate nodded in understanding. "He seems pretty relentless as an agent."

"Not Gibbs the agent," Castle corrected. "I'm talking Gibbs the husband and father."

* * *

 _Director Vance's office…_

Even as he pushed through the door to Leon Vance's office, Agent Gibbs knew exactly what the conversation was going to be. It was the same every time a case came up that had a personal connection to a member of his team - and the fact that this was a case that harkened back to _him_ made the coming talk even more obvious.

Gibbs shut the door behind him, coffee cup in his hand. But the contents were likely lukewarm by this point; since the conversation with the redheaded woman, the mystery writer, and his fiancé, Gibbs hadn't trusted his stomach enough to ingest anything.

Even the update Agents DiNozzo and David had given about the drugs found in Bass' apartment had largely fallen on deaf ears. Gibbs' team was smart and efficient; they could handle this one on their own if need be.

But that didn't mean Gibbs would back away.

"Agent Gibbs," Vance greeted, straightening his tie as he hung up the phone.

"Leon," Gibbs greeted in return.

Gibbs set his coffee cup on Vance's desk with an arched brow. Vance, leaning back in his swivel chair, clasped his hands together over his midsection and studied the cup before lifting his gaze back to his senior agent. "I understand you have a personal connection to this case."

Gibbs smirked and fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Would you believe me if I told you it was classified?"

"Considering the phone call I just received from the Attorney General's office?" Vance arched a brow of his own before pushing himself out of his chair and crossing over to the meeting table. "I'm well aware of the fact that Meredith Harper is a cover identity, Agent Gibbs. I'm also aware of her _real_ identity."

Gibbs shrugged again. "This the part where you take me off the case?"

"I should." Vance slipped his hands into his pockets. "But I won't. I know you, Leroy. Taking you off this case is the most surefire way to send you head-on into it."

"Then why am I here?"

"Because you don't know the whole story." Vance grabbed the remote sitting on the conference table, turning on the flatscreen monitor. Front-and-center was a head shot of the redhead who now called herself Meredith Harper, along with a head shot of Herman Bass in front of an American flag.

"What she told you is correct; Meredith Harper is the identity Shannon Gibbs was given when she was placed into protective custody. Tracking down Kelly is proving even more difficult, because she was a minor at the time she was placed into the program."

"What about Bass?"

"I'm leaving that part to Agents DiNozzo and David," Vance explained. "Now, this… Jackson Hunt she told you about? We can't find him in any of our systems. It's likely that it's an alias. But, a contact of mine at the CIA told me there were rumblings of a Jackson Hunt in Paris several months ago."

Gibbs watched as the screen changed, revealing the head shot of another redhead. This one was younger than Meredith, probably no older than her early twenties. "This woman had been kidnapped by a Russian terrorist. Word is, Hunt was instrumental in getting her back."

"We know who she is?"

"Her name is Alexis Castle," Vance explained.

The recognition was instant, and Gibbs pursed his lips. He reached back for the cup on Vance's desk, taking a swig even as he wished there was something stronger than coffee in it. If ever a case called for a flask of scotch, this was it.

"Richard Castle's daughter," Gibbs posited.

"Could be a coincidence," Vance said, though the tone of his voice made it clear he didn't believe it was. "Nevertheless, I need to know what Richard Castle knows about this… Jackson Hunt."

"Ask him yourself," Gibbs said with a shrug. "He's here, along with his fiancée."

Vance didn't respond to that, but the straightening of his posture and the ever-so-slight way he tightened his grip on the remote told Gibbs that Vance knew something he wasn't sharing. Pushing was tempting, but would ultimately prove fruitless - Leon Vance never shared information unless he wanted to - but Gibbs had to admit, at least to himself, that his curiosity was piqued.

"Bring him in, then." Vance set down the remote. "Oh, and Gibbs?"

Gibbs stopped at the door. "Yeah, Leon?"

"Be careful."

Gibbs gave one of his patented half-smirks before leaving Vance's office and shutting the door behind him. Vance walked back over to his desk, his eyes still trained on the door as he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

The call connected on the second ring.

"This is Director Vance. I need everything you have on Kate Beckett."


	5. Chapter 5: Acquaintances

_**Author's Note: Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuun!**_

* * *

 _Director Vance's office…_

Leon Vance stood when his assistant opened the door to his office and a man and a woman walked through. The man was tall and broad, and he looked so much like the headshot on his book jackets that it was a little creepy. The woman was almost as tall as him, thanks to her stylish black heels, and the worry in her eyes matching the dread on his face.

"Richard Castle," Vance said, extending his right arm. "I'm Director Vance. I'm sorry we had to meet under such circumstances."

"Thank you," Castle said as he shook Vance's hand. "This is my fiancée, Kate Beckett."

A slight smile crept onto Vance's face. "Ah, so you're former Agent Beckett. Rachel speaks very highly of you."

Kate blinked. "You know Agent McCord?"

"Dirty little secret around here: everybody knows everybody." Vance gestured toward the dark conference table before taking a seat on the far end and smoothing over his tie. "Agent Gibbs has already informed me of this… admittedly awkward situation, and I'm sorry that you got mixed up in it."

"It's okay," Castle tried for nonchalance. "Admittedly awkward situations are kind of our specialty."

Kate's hand immediately covered his on the surface of the table and she offered him a smile - not one of mirth or humor at his attempt at a joke, but rather one of support. She could still see the tension on his face and the way his shoulders were still slightly hunched, and her fingers locked with his.

"Fortunately, thanks to a couple phone calls I've made in the interim, things are a little bit clearer." Vance turned on the large flatscreen on the wall to his right before setting down the remote. "As you're aware, that is Shannon Gibbs on the left, and on the right is our murder victim, Herman Bass. We're still awaiting autopsy and toxicology reports, but Agents DiNozzo and David found Modafinil in his apartment."

Kate frowned at that. "Bass was supplying Mered- uh, Shannon with narcolepsy pills?"

"It appears that way. We have Ms. Scuito examining the pills themselves to see if they were altered or tainted. If Bass was selling drugs on the black market, who knows how legitimate they were."

Castle shook his head. "But why was he selling them to her?"

"I'd say ask her, but she has other issues to deal with at the moment." Vance leaned in, his hands clasped together on top of the conference table. "I actually brought you up here to discuss Paris."

Castle visibly recoiled, that one word eliciting several memories he would just as soon purge from his brain. Kate's grip tightened on his hand and Castle's face morphed into a scowl, the source of all his recent nightmares flowing back to the forefront of his mind.

The scowl only deepened when the monitor changed and he was staring at a picture of his daughter.

"Director Vance, what the -"

"We have reason to believe there is a connection between your daughter's rescue from Paris and what ultimately saved Shannon and Kelly Gibbs' lives," Vance explained. "Now, I need to preface this by saying I don't have any concrete proof, just what Shannon has told us and what I've managed to get from contacts in D.C."

Castle swallowed thickly, his stomach dropping. He stole a sideways glance at Kate, and even though she wasn't looking at him, he could tell by the way her jaw was clenched that she was dreading what came next as much as he was. If this related in any way to Alexis' abduction the previous year… things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.

Vance sighed. "Does the name Jackson Hunt mean anything to the two of you?"

It did. For Castle, it meant everything and nothing at the same time. Hell, it even meant everything in between. Castle didn't know if he had anything he could call a relationship with that man, but if he did, it was beyond complicated. Sure, he had Jackson Hunt to thank for the fact that his daughter made it back home safe and unharmed.

But the man had also been gone for Castle's entire life. Castle was in his forties by the time he had finally met the man. To say nothing of the last time they crossed paths - when this Anderson Cross wedged himself into Kate's investigation and then had the audacity to bleed on _their_ bed after being shot.

To say nothing of killing a man in cold blood right in front of Castle before disappearing.

Again.

"Yeah," Castle practically growled. "Yeah, I know who that is. That's my father."

Kate's head whirled around and she fixed her fiancé with a look of sheer confusion. It hit Castle for the first time that she had never heard that particular alias before - he had been light on the details regarding Alexis' rescue, and his father's name was one of those omitted. He gave her a sheepish grin and a nod before noting Vance's quirked brow.

"Your father," he repeated. "You mean to tell me your father is a covert operative who may or may not be working for the CIA?"

Castle shrugged. "Is it any harder to believe than the fact that the mother of my daughter is actually Agent Gibbs' wife, thought long dead?"

"No, I suppose not."

"Okay, I'm confused again," Kate said. "What does Castle's father have to do with all this?"

"According to Shannon," Vance answered, "Jackson Hunt was the one who took her and Kelly into hiding the day the car supposedly carrying them exploded."

* * *

 _A long time ago…_

Kelly Gibbs wouldn't budge from her perch by the window. A black town car with tinted windows sat at the curb, guarded by two burly men wearing black suits and matching sunglasses. If it weren't for the rhythmic rise and fall of their shoulders, Kelly would think they were statues. A small wire dangled from each man's right ear.

"I miss Daddy."

"I know, hun," Shannon Gibbs responded, coming up to her daughter from behind and resting a hand on her shoulder. The gesture was meant to calm the child, but there was so much tension in Shannon's fingers, and dread on her face, that neither one of them were calm. "Me too."

Shannon hadn't slept in the days since that horrible thing she witnessed. Though she already lived in fear almost every day - a by-product of being a Marine wife while her husband was on deployment - knowing she was potentially in the crosshairs of a brutal drug lord simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time was a whole new level of stress.

Not that the federal agents tasked with their protection weren't capable, but Shannon couldn't help but feel she would be better off with Gibbs around. He lacked the training some of these agents had, but his drive to protect his wife and daughter would've likely made up for it.

At least, that would be his argument.

"Mom, where are we going?"

"Not in that car."

The gruff male voice from behind the two redheads startled them, and Shannon frowned when she turned around to see a man standing in the doorway to the safe house's kitchen. His beard and hair were graying, his eyes the most striking blue she had ever seen. But the semiautomatic dangling off the man's shoulder and the fact that he was dressed in all black were as disconcerting as anything else, and Shannon recoiled as she pinned her daughter against her.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Call me Jackson Hunt," the man said. "I'm here to save you two."

Shannon's brows arched. "Did you miss the part where we've got federal agents outside?"

"They'll be dead within the hour," Hunt explained as if he was simply relaying the events of the day. "And so will you if you don't come with me."

"We're not going anywhere with you," Shannon argued.

"Look," Hunt dropped to a knee, trying for patience even as his eyes darted up to the window, "we don't have a lotta time. I'm a covert operative for the CIA. The less you know about that, the better. But Pedro Hernandez is onto that car. You get in it, you're both dead."

Tightening her grip on her daughter, Shannon's eyes narrowed. She glanced over her shoulder in time to see the two agents nod at each other before climbing into the front seats of the town car. The engine started but the car didn't go anywhere - as if they had a schedule to keep and it was almost time for them to go.

"I know you're confused right now," Hunt added, "but I need you to trust me."

"If what you say is true," Shannon said in a shaky voice, "and we do go with you… Hernandez will find out."

"No, he won't." A dark smile crept onto Hunt's face. "I've got a friend making sure of that."

* * *

 _NCIS Headquarters…_

The bullpen was uncharacteristically empty, what with the three members of Agent Gibbs' team off pursuing different leads. Fancier technology - and orange walls - aside, the place wasn't all that different from the Twelfth. Though Kate had to admit, a high-definition video monitor had its perks over the standard dry-erase murder board.

She stood in front of the monitor with her arms folded over her chest. The sketch artist's rendition of the man they had gathered back during Alexis' kidnapping was front-and-center on the screen, thanks to a quick email to Detective Ryan - and the resemblance between that sketch and the man she knew as Anderson Cross was uncanny.

But apparently, he also went by the name Jackson Hunt. Castle had never mentioned that part when he relayed the tale of how they got his daughter back. But if Hunt was covert intelligence, maybe he _couldn't_ tell her.

Still, the secret rubbed her the wrong way.

The presence of a man beside her registered, though it was immediately apparent that man wasn't her fiancé. Kate glanced to her right and saw Agent Gibbs staring at the same monitor, sipping from a to-go coffee cup.

"How's he doin'?" Gibbs asked, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Castle's on the phone with Alexis," Kate explained. "He's… I'm not sure 'confused' is a strong enough word. What about you?"

Setting his cup down on a nearby desk, Gibbs straightened his posture with a sigh. His eyes briefly narrowed, and simply from watching his body language, Kate could tell he wasn't really one to open up. She could relate, even though she had been far more open in recent years than she used to be. One of the many ways in which her soon-to-be husband had made her life better.

"All these years," he said, almost to himself. "I thought they were dead. Murdered."

"That why you became an agent?" Kate asked, inwardly cringing at how similar their backstories appeared to be.

"It's why I put a bullet in Pedro Hernandez's head," Gibbs admitted with a one-shoulder shrug. Once he glanced to his left and saw the arched brow, he shrugged again. "I was a Marine sniper."

Kate tried not to flinch at the word _sniper_. "Did it help?"

The shake of Gibbs' head was almost imperceptible. He reached for his cup again and brought it to his lips to take a sip, but he didn't. Instead, he set the cup down again and slid his hands into his pockets. "You'd think it does. But… it really didn't."

A memory flashed into Kate's head - _In my dream, I'm the one that gets to pull the trigger_ \- and she briefly wondered if that would be the same for her. If this went the same way, if it came down to her taking William Bracken's life, would she feel vindicated? Or would she be just as haunted as Agent Gibbs?

Maybe that was why Kate wouldn't allow herself to act on those baser instincts. Sure, killing Bracken _sounded_ good on the surface, but bringing him down the right way, dismantling his empire, ruining his career, and throwing him behind bars… that held more appeal to her.

Even if it was a pipe dream.

"My mom was killed," she admitted. "When I was nineteen. It's why I became a cop."

"Ever find out who did it?"

"It was a… professional hit," Kate explained, pausing to compose herself. "Found the guy who did it, but I had to kill him." _To save the man who's now my fiancé_ … "I think I know who hired him, but I can't touch him."

"So you put it all into the job."

"I did," Kate said with a nod. "Before I met Castle."

"You know what I don't get?" Gibbs asked with a shake of his head. "The whole idea of Witness Protection is safety in anonymity. If they put Shannon in Witness Protection, why make her new identity an actress?"

"From what I gathered, she wasn't a very good or successful one."

"Ever see anything with her in it?"

Kate shook her head. "Every time I saw her, she was jetting off somewhere for an audition or a vacation."

"Beckett?"

The sound of Castle's voice interrupted the conversation, and both Kate and Agent Gibbs turned to see him standing near the stairwell, phone still glued to his ear and a worried look on his face. Kate's heart skipped a beat and her brow furrowed.

"Alexis said to turn on the news," he explained.

Gibbs grabbed for the nearby remote, flipping the monitor over to the 24-hour news station. The first thing Kate saw was Senator William Bracken's Congressional head shot on the screen, next to the stern-looking anchor reading from freshly-printed copy. She cupped a hand over her mouth and took a step back.

" _CNN has just received word that New York Senator William H. Bracken was abducted this morning while en route to Capitol Hill. Details are sketchy at this point, but we have reason to believe the Senator is alive and that this is not a ransom kidnapping. Shortly after his abduction, CNN received this audio recording."_

" _You killed my son, Senator_ ," the digitally altered voice echoed through the bullpen. " _You put a bullet in his head and you have the gall to stand in front of those cameras and talk about how you support the troops. The only thing you support, Senator, is your own power. And we will make sure you never make it to the White House._ "

The anchor returned to the screen. " _While investigators are still working to determine the identity of Senator Bracken's captors, they believe the kidnapping is related to the recent death of Herman Bass, who was in the Navy. His body was found just north of D.C. yesterday. That investigation is also on-going._ "

Gibbs turned the monitor off with a sigh before tossing the remote onto his desk. "Anyone mind telling me why someone thinks a Senator killed their son?"

Castle had pocketed his phone and joined his fiancée's side by this point, his hand grabbing for hers. The hand not intertwined with Castle's had balled into a fist, and Kate trembled slightly as the tears were building in her eyes.

But she was damned if they were going to fall.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Miss Beckett?"

"Gibbs! GibbsGibbsGibbsGibbs!"

Turning, Agent Gibbs regarded the dark-haired woman who had strode into the bullpen, a white lab coat covering her black thigh-length dress and matching platform boots. Her black hair was pulled into pigtails and her bangs came clear down to her eyebrows.

"Yeah, Abs?"

Abby Scuito stopped in her tracks, offering a wave to the two people standing next to Gibbs. She didn't recognize either of them, but given the gravity of what she had just discovered in her lab, she decided to shelve introductions for the moment.

"I got something. Something big. Huge. Humungous big. Like… I'm-gonna-need-ten-Kaf-Pows big."

"What is it?"

Abby cringed. "Let's just say… whoever's voice is on that recording might be onto something."


End file.
